Orangutans’ natural way of life involves spending nearly all of their time in the trees. According to the Orangutan Conservancy, it could be said that they have “four hands instead of two hands and feet,” a trait that makes them “graceful and agile while climbing through the trees but it makes walking on the ground somewhat slow and awkward. That is why the orangutan is at a great disadvantage on the ground and why the orangutan rarely comes down from the treetops. Their food is there, their home is there, and they are safer there.”

These animals have demonstrated an impressive level of cognitive ability in times of either torrential rain or water scarcity – fashioning umbrellas for themselves during the former, and making sponges to soak up water from tree cavities during the latter. In fact, their frequent use of tools to aid them in their arboreal lifestyles has been well-documented. Their natural diet consists of leaves, tree bark, insects, and over 300 varieties of fruit, and these animals also share very close maternal and familial bonds. No doubt about it: they deserve to live wild and free, exactly as nature intended … but sadly, human activity has made this almost impossible.

This picture by Ami Vitale demonstrates exactly how orangutan mothers and babies should be allowed to live … but the image is also tinged with sadness because it was taken in the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Center in the Malaysian Sabah district of North Borneo.

This amazing center was founded in 1964 with mission of rehabilitating orphaned orangutans and preparing them for release back into the wild. The Kabili Sepilok Forest Reserve, in which the centre is situated, currently houses around 60 to 80 orangutans. The team is dedicated to helping all of the orangutans under their care to live as freely and independently as possible … but the fact that this work is even necessary, due to human greed and indifference, is truly heartbreaking. Unless we all wake up NOW and take action to save their rainforest homes, this picture could represent a new order of learning for orangutans in future: one in which they must rely on human assistance in order to survive.

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19 comments on “Stark Reminder of How Palm Oil Has Changed the Natural Order of Life for Orangutans”

"No doubt about it: they deserve to live wild and free, exactly as nature intended … but sadly, human activity has made this almost impossible."The only thing nature intends for animals is for them kill other animals and be killed at teeh and claws of other animals. Otherwise there is only indifference as the previous five mass extinction events showed.

"Unless we all wake up NOW and take action to save their rainforest homes, this picture could represent a new order of learning for orangutans in future: one in which they must rely on human assistance in order to survive."Unfortunately saving rainforest requries bringing Indonesia to First world life standarts, and I don\'t see anyone that motivatedto do that. Human civilization is already a force of evolution both creating and destroying species, and individual humans (plus all our domesticated animals) already rely on other humans to survive, so relying on humans in order to survive is better than alternatives

Not sure why palm oil is being so strongly associated with deforestation. It is definitely a problem, but not the MAJOR one.
91% of the rainforests deforestation is for cattle ranching and growing livestock feed.
This chart compares the amount of rainforest used to grow palm oil vs cattle.